A silver ring, hanging with three small loops.
Duàn Làng scratched his head. How am I supposed to wear this? I don't even have pierced ears.
But as he tried to hook it onto his earlobe, something strange happened—the silver earring seemed to come alive, violently piercing his earlobe and forcing itself in.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch!"
This bizarre incident, Duàn Làng thought, was probably going to become the new normal.
Duàn Làng asked, "How did you guys appear in the real world?"
"?!"
The hallway ghost had always answered his questions before, but now, it seemed confused. Had his question gone beyond its understanding?
Duàn Làng then asked a very important question.
"Friend, how can I kill you guys?"
"???"
Three consecutive question marks.
"Don't worry, I'm not planning to use it on you. To kill you, I think all I need is some boy's urine."
"I don't know."
The hallway ghost gave its answer.
Duàn Làng frowned. The fact that the hallway ghost didn't know how to kill other ghosts meant what exactly? Each ghost must have its own unique characteristics.
Boy's urine might work on the hallway ghost, but it wouldn't necessarily affect other types of ghosts.
"Maybe I need to level up my curse power to LV1 before I can actually harm a ghost," Duàn Làng thought aloud.
"Can your kind communicate like you do?"
"No."
Duàn Làng fell into deep thought.
"Can you see the scary system's game prompts?"
After a while, a twisted line of text appeared on the ground.
"No."
So, the scary prompts only apply to humans?
"Friend, I'll keep chatting with you."
Triggered Trickster Skill: "Please, don't come: Gain Power 1"
Duàn Làng returned to the sixth-floor hallway. Sure enough, the middle-aged man was gone. He rushed into his rented apartment, slammed the door shut, and locked it.
That was intense.
Lin Zhí had warned him that the outside world was dangerous, but this was way beyond dangerous. The hallway was full of ghosts and monsters. There was no way out.
Scary Prompt: "You've completed the newbie task of escaping the hallway. You've gained 1000 Scary Points and 5 attribute points for free distribution. [Please be careful with each point allocation.]"
Human: Duàn Làng
Strength: 6
Agility: 6
Stamina: 5
Charm: 0
Luck: 0
Curse Power LV0: 0/50 [Needs to be upgraded to LV1 to use curse power]
Other LV0: 0/50 [Max this attribute to unlock random hidden attributes]
Skill: Trickster LV1
Scary Points: 1000
The strength and agility bonuses triggered by the Trickster skill were already reflected in his stats.
"What are Scary Points for?"
Scary Prompt: "Currently, the game is in its beta phase. Scary Points functionality is not yet available."
The world had changed, and you're telling me this is just a beta?!
However, the Scary System surprisingly answered his question.
Duàn Làng asked, "Where exactly am I?"
No answer.
He kept asking questions, but the Scary System seemed to have crashed.
"Where should I allocate these 5 points?"
Curse power was important, but it only worked after leveling up, so increasing his odds of survival seemed smarter.
He decided to allocate all 5 points into stamina. After all, his stamina had been pretty bad when he was running through the building earlier.
After adding the points, Duàn Làng felt a lot better.
It was like going from sitting at home gaming all day to suddenly exercising for a year—he felt much more energetic.
Scary Prompt: "Detected that you've completed the newbie task. Daily tasks are now available."
Daily Tasks: [0/3]
Task 1: "The daughter of the resident in room 608 passed away. He might need comfort. Comforting this sad neighbor will complete the task."
Task Level: [G]
Task 2: "The sewer in room 604 is blocked. Help your neighbor clear the blockage to complete the task."
Task Level: [F]
Task 3: "The neighbor in room 606 is heartbroken. He's been banging his head against the wall every day. After seven days, he'll break through the wall into room 605. If you help him get over his heartbreak, you might get unexpected rewards."
Task Level: [F]
Prompt: "Daily tasks refresh every seven days. Completing three daily tasks before the refresh will reward you with a mysterious chest."
The first two tasks were fine, but the last one was a joke.
The guy in room 606 is banging his head against the wall for seven days?
Is it even safe to stay at home?
He had no choice but to go do the tasks, find a way to survive, and then look for his sister and parents.
Bang, bang, bang!
The sound of something hitting the wall came from next door.
No doubt it was the heartbroken guy starting up again.
Bang, bang!
It was getting really annoying.
Who could stand that for seven days?
Duàn Làng walked up to the wall and knocked back, "What the hell are you banging for? Did you die or something?"
Triggered Trickster Skill: "You've pissed off the resident in 606: Earned Stinky Tofu 10"
Wasn't boy's urine supposed to be the item? Why the hell is it stinky tofu?
Item: Stinky Tofu
Prompt: "Ugh! This is so disgusting, who the hell would eat this?"
The Trickster skill randomly triggered and gave him an item. Some items are useful, some aren't.
Seems like this one was just a regular stinky tofu.
Bang, bang!
The banging from next door grew faster.
Duàn Làng felt a little guilty. The Trickster skill was useful, but the way it triggered was so intense.
Maybe he should go comfort the neighbor in room 608 instead?
That task seemed safer, considering its difficulty level was the lowest.
But then he remembered how the neighbor in 608 had chased him with a kitchen knife. This was supposed to be the easiest task? What kind of messed up game was this?
Boo-hoo!
Just then, the phone rang.
It was Lin Zhí calling. Duàn Làng hesitated and didn't pick up.
Lin Zhí's last message said that there were ghosts in his phone, and he warned Duàn Làng to never believe any messages or calls.
Boo-hoo!
The phone rang again.
Duàn Làng furrowed his brow and picked up the phone, planning to test who it was. If it was Lin Zhí, he'd listen, but if it wasn't, he'd hang up immediately.
"Hello?"
Lin Zhí's voice came through, trembling, "Help me."
Duàn Làng's heart skipped a beat.
After a long pause, Duàn Làng coldly replied, "You've dialed the wrong number."
He hung up.
Boo-hoo!
The phone rang again.
Duàn Làng picked up.
Lin Zhí's voice was frantic. "I didn't dial the wrong number! Please save me!"
"Where are you?"
"In my room."
"What's around you?"
"A chair, a cup, a bed."
After a moment, Duàn Làng said, "Lie down on the bed and cover your head with the blanket. That's the safest way to die."
He quickly hung up, his heart pounding in his chest.
Did I do the right thing?
What if this really is Lin Zhí? Will he snap because of what I said?
Triggered Trickster Skill: "Tired Friend?: Earned 100 Yuan"
What could 100 Yuan do?
He took out the reward and saw that it wasn't real money. It was a dark grayish bill, kind of like the color of a hell money note but not quite. The texture was indescribable.
Item: 100 Yuan
Prompt: "The happiness of the rich is beyond your imagination."